What's your favorite OS feature of all time?

Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by _b8r0 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:59PM (#2199308)

I knew they wouldn't have mentioned my two favourite Amiga OS features: Pre-emptive multitasking and the Workbench screen model. At a time when PC users were still struggling with blocky DOS screens, the Amiga offered a virtual desktop type environment through workbench screens (which could be dragged up and down over each other or flipped backwards and forwards) and proper multitasking meaning that things in the background screens would carry on running.

The other OS feature is one that I only started playing with a couple of years ago on the ZX Spectrum. The ZX Spectrum has a fairly unique way of drawing the screen in monochrome 256x192 pixels and a 32x24 8x8 pixel colour attribute cell system. Ignoring the monochrome (which was what I used to use in the 80s) and manipulating 8x8 cells directly means that the entire screen is represented by 768 bytes of memory. This lets me play around with colourful 3d in ways I could only imagine as a kid. Sad, I know, but I'm just a big kid in the end.

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Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by stsmytherie on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @04:01PM (#2199319)

Amiga is one of the big OSes I never got a chance to play with, though I know it had some innovative features and very loyal users.

Other than finding an old Amiga, is there a practical way to give it a try today?

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Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by _b8r0 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @04:08PM (#2199355)

You'll need an emulator called UAE (http://www.amigaemulator.org/) or a port like WinUAE (which comes with a frontend and is much easier), a Kickstart file for the right system (Kickstart is the name for the Rom and varied from Amiga to Amiga) and some floppy disk images for the games themselves. There's a WinUAE guide here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Amiga_1.html and a more general beginner's guide here: http://cpc464.back2roots.org/menu.htm

It's very different to modern OSes if you don't tweak around but as a modern alternative the Icarus AROS distribution (http://www.icarosdesktop.org/) provides a modern continuation of the Workbench experience.

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Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by stsmytherie on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @04:12PM (#2199375)

Outstanding. I will give this a go ASAP.

PS: I'm the author of this article. Had a great time thinking about all the fun systems I've played with over the years and researching their history.

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Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by _b8r0 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @05:55PM (#2199739)

Don't get me wrong, it's a good article and I enjoyed it. Props for mentioning BeOS, $deity bless her and all who sail in her ;)

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Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by stsmytherie on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @06:03PM (#2199765)

No worries. I love the feedback. Fodder for a second installment? Keep the ideas coming.

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Re:What's your favorite OS feature of all time? by _b8r0 on Thursday February 10, 2011 @04:18AM (#2201354)

Ok, in no particular order:

* Built in BASIC on the Commodore PET

* Folders in MS DOS (CP/M didn't have them)

* The trashcan in Macintosh System 6

* The start bar in OS/2

* I can't think of a single unique thing about Atari TOS

* The stability of Windows 2000 (compared to 9x and NT)

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